Witch Hunts and Trials in History

Updated on August 16, 2011

The Witch Hunt: Origins in Europe

The Inquisition launched by the Roman Catholic Church in the 1400’s sought to rid Europe of heretics that did not conform to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Adherents of Catharism, a dualistic religion which claimed the devil and God were equal, opposing powers, were specifically targeted. As the Inquisition gained power, Cathars fled to Germany from France. Under torture, many Cathars admitted to attending assemblies led by Satan (known as Sabbats), where Satan appeared in the form of a goat. Confessions of setting spells on neighbors, causing storms, or having sex with animals were also obtained. Some “witches” even admitted to flying on poles: an idea which later became the archetypical witch-on-a-broomstick.

The majority of witch hunts took place in France, Scotland, and in German speaking areas of Europe. There was also an intense period of witch hunting in Essex, England from 1560-1680. During the Reformation, the number of executions skyrocketed with witchcraft hysteria: mass executions were performed as entire communities panicked and accused large numbers of citizens of sorcery. In Geneva, Switzerland, 500 accused witches were burned at the stake 1515.

Jean Bodin published a book entitled: On the Demon-Mania of Sorcerers (1580), a tome which led to the use of torture, entrapment, and the testimony of children against parents in the quest to eliminate witchcraft from Europe.

Witch Hunting Guide: The Hammer of Witches

Pope Innocent VIII was convinced that Satanists in Germany were destroying crops and aborting infants. He appointed two friars (Henry Institorus and James Sprenger) to write a report on the evils produced by witchcraft. The resultant report was called Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) and is the classic witch hunting manual. The manual claims that witches were able to:

Cause miscarriages (“slay infants yet in the mother’s womb”)

Cause the death of the offspring of livestock

Cause crop failures.

Cause disease in animals and people.

Cause impotence

Prevent women from conceiving.

The actual text of the manual states that witches have "slain infants yet in the mother’s womb, as also the offspring of cattle, have blasted the produce of the earth, the grapes of the vine, the fruits of the trees, nay, men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, vineyards, orchards, meadows, pasture-land, corn, wheat, and all other cereals; these wretches furthermore afflict and torment men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, with terrible and piteous pains and sore diseases, both internal and external; they hinder men from performing the sexual act and women from conceiving, whence husbands cannot know their wives nor wives receive their husbands."

Engraving of witch pricking needles: those who didn't bleed were considered guilty of witchcraft. | Source

The Witch Test

Witch Floating: After blessing a body of water, a priest would have a suspected witch thrown into the pool. If the accused floated, they were considered a witch and were pulled out for their execution. If the accused sank, they were considered innocent. Many times, the “innocent” drowned and died, because they were not pulled from the water in time. As the accusers did not understand basic physiology, they did not realize that the human lungs carry hold about a liter of air: enough to keep most bodies from sinking. This is why scuba divers must wear weight belts to dive! Those who did sink had managed to gasp enough air out of their lungs to allow their bodies to sink: and often gasped in as much water and drowned once they were submerged.

Witch “Familiars”: Anyone who had a variety of pets and appeared to communicate with them was suspect for witchcraft. Any elderly woman with a few well-loved pets was under suspicion: the evidence of these “familiars” could be used in a trial against the accused.

Devil’s Mark: Any skin blemish (mole, wart, or otherwise) was looked upon as the sign of the Devil. Woe to an accused witch who had a skin condition!

Confession Under Torture: Many accused witches were deprived of sleep for extended periods of time. In a confused, altered state, they often made fantastical claims and confessions. Violent torture techniques were also used to elicit confessions: the witches’ collar (a collar with spikes driven into the mouth), and thumb screws (which crushed fingers in a slow, painful manner).

Accusation by Another Witch: Many witches would name friends as witches, in an attempt to save their own lives. This rapidly increased the number of people accused, tried, and executed.

Witch Pricking: the son of a preacher, Matthew Hopkins, devised a novel approach to testing witches. He would prick them with a knife – if the accused bled, they were innocent. If the accused did not bleed, they were found guilty of witchcraft. Hopkins used a retractable knife to ensure that some were found guilty by his method. Hopkins had a taste of his own medicine when he was accused of witchcraft in 1647, found guilty, and hanged for his “sorcery.” The witch pricking method developed by Hopkins had about 400 people hanged for imagined crimes.

A mid 19th century book depicts witch burning. | Source

The Punishment of Witches

During the Roman Inquisition, confessed, repentant witches were sometimes “lucky” enough to be punished with the Cathar Yellow Cross (a badge of shame, similar to the Scarlet Letter) proclaiming their former, shameful allegiance to the forbidden religion. More often than not, convicted witches were executed. In England, some

In England, the method of execution was hanging. Many accused witches were drowned during the “witch testing” phase of the witch hunt. Throughout much of Europe, witches were burned alive.

A German Etching of a Witch Trial: a witch's collar can be seen on the floor under the accused witch. | Source

Real Witches and Witch Trials

Beatrice de Planissoles was born near the year 1274 and was accused of heresy because she had admitted to a neighbor that she did not believe the actual body of Christ was in the sacrament of the altar. Beatrice was a Cathar, a dualist religion believing that the Devil (evil) and God (good) were equal in power. She was further accused of sorcery, based on items found in her purse and in her home. Beatrice was found to have two umbilical cords in her purse, bloody cloth from a menstrual cycle in a leather pouch, and various plants and written formulas.

Beatrice declared that these items were not for sorcery. In fact, she had a reasonable explanation for each item:

The umbilical cords belonged to her grandsons, because she had been told by a “baptized Jewess” that if she carried them and was ever involved in a lawsuit, that she would win the lawsuit.

The blood was also kept on the advice of the same woman. The woman advised that if her daughter’s first menstrual blood was fed to her husband in a drink, the man would never desire after another woman. Beatrice had not had time to perform this ritual prior to her arrest, and still had the blood in her house.

The cloths of grains with incense were not for casting spells, but for getting rid of headaches.

The knife and the mirror were not for casting spells. They were simply normal tools.

The seed wrapped in muslin was to cure a disease known as the “falling sickness (epilepsy),” which afflicted her young grandson. The seed was for a plant called ive, but was never planted because Beatrice’s daughter Condors had taken her little son to the church of St. Paul, and the little boy was cured of his problem.

Knowing that the penalty for sorcery was burning at the stake, Beatrice gave the following confession and oath in the hopes of obtaining mercy:

“I swear and promise to obey and to defer to the orders of the Church, of my lord the bishop and the inquisitors, and to appear on the day or days fixed by them or their replacements, at all times and in whatever place that I receive the order or request on their part, by messenger or by letter or by other means, to never flee nor to absent myself knowingly or in a spirit of contumaciousness and to receive and accomplish according to my power the punishment and the penance that they have judged fit to impose on me. And to this end, I pledge my person and all my worldly goods.”

Despite this, Beatrice was condemned to be burned at the wall on March 8, 1321. Fortunately, she was not burned immediately and had her sentence later commuted on July 4, 1322: she had to wear the yellow cross as penance for her crime. The yellow cross was a badge of shame worn by repentant Cathars on order of the Roman Catholic Church. She would wear a badge of shame forever, but she survived the consequences of her witch trial.

Maggie Morgan had an unfortunate love affair with a Scottish gentleman from the Anstruther family. She became pregnant, the man abandoned her, and she was declared a harlot by her Scottish church congregation. The man who abandoned her later drowned in a boating accident, and Maggie’s minister was told that she had used witchcraft to cause the seafaring accident. A very short trial followed, and Maggie was burned at the stake on Kirk Hill behind the church.

In the neighboring town of Pittenweem, a spoiled eleven year old girl by the name of Christian Shaw was enraged when her servant girl (Katherine Campbell) scolded her. Christian was thrown into a fit of rage, and started screaming gibberish and accusing her servants of witchcraft. Seven servants were accused: one committed suicide and five others burned at the stake. The girl later admitted it was all false testimony: her spoiled temper tantrum killed six people in a vicious hoax. She later grew up to marry a minister – after having six people murdered on false charges, she led a very comfortable life with no repercussions.

Pictured: Galileo Galilei. The dawn of reason brought about by The Enlightenment ended the hysteria of the massive witch hunts that radiated across Europe. | Source

The End of Witch Hunts in Europe

In England, the last execution for witchcraft was in 1682. The law against sorcery was repealed in 1736, as the dawn of reason drew across the country. Still, in 1751, Ruth Osborne lost her life when she was tossed into a well in Tring, Hertfordshire. A local chimney sweep by the name of Thomas Colley led a group of people to accuse Ms. Osborne of sorcery: she drowned in the well long after the laws against witchcraft were repealed. Colley was arraigned on the crime of murder and was hanged for the incident.

The scientific revolution undermined belief in witches, as natural phenomena could be explained through science. Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton provided insight into the basic physics that ruled the universe (rather than divine wrath or sorcery). As The Enlightenment swept over Europe, the use of torture dissipated and reason dictated that “witches” were not the cause of plagues, miscarriages, impotence, storms, or other natural disasters.

Witch Hunt Documentary Part III

Witch Hunt Documentary Part IV

Witch Hunt Documentary Part V

Witch Hunt Documentary Part VI

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Comments 10 comments

Nice hub,well written and the layout with the videos is great, Have you noticed the Hollywood trend of witch trial movies - I saw one last week.

Season of the witch - Nick Cage

leahlefler 5 years ago from Western New York Author

No, I haven't seen the new one yet! I'll have to check it out - I am certainly glad I wasn't a woman alive in the middle ages. Any comment or sideways glance could land one on a burning stake!

Nemingha 5 years ago

Really interesting Hub about an absolutely fascinating subject. So glad I wasn't around back then!

Voted up and interesting!

leahlefler 5 years ago from Western New York Author

I'm glad we weren't around then, too! I can't imagine: one freak hailstorm and half the town's women are accused and executed for "witchcraft" causing the storm. The saddest thing is that there are still modern witch hunts in some countries that believe in sorcery.

wilderness 5 years ago from Boise, Idaho

It was a sad time in our history when hysteria and greed so completely overcame reason.

As you say, I'm glad I wasn't around then.

leahlefler 5 years ago from Western New York Author

The greed was incredible - the "witch pricking" device invented by the Matthew Hopkins is the worst. He certainly made out well with his new "career," but fate finally caught up with him in the end. There were so many lives thrown away during that period. "Conform or die" seemed to be the motto of the era.

daisynicolas 4 years ago from Alaska

This part of human history is always fascinating, haunting and yet, is being practiced because it is fascinating and haunting and certain types of people rely on these beliefs. Good visuals to aid in this education.

leahlefler 4 years ago from Western New York Author

The witch hunts really reveal how adhering to a dogma can cause great suffering among people - I am very grateful that we live in a much more reasonable society than Europe in the Middle Ages! Thanks for the comment, Daisy!

Au fait 4 years ago from North Texas

Very comprehensive and well researched!

Can you imagine what a real witch having the powers they were accusers said they had would have done to the accusers if in fact they were truly witches? Guess that didn't cross the accuser's minds.

Very interesting. Voted you up, interesting, and awesome!

leahlefler 4 years ago from Western New York Author

I have this great mental image of a "real" witch scaring the pants off these terrible accusers, Au fait. So many people were persecuted during this time period - I have to say, I'm glad I live in modern times!